Mary Erskine eBook

Accordingly, as soon as he had passed the house where
Phonny lived, which was the last house in that direction
for some distance, he looked round in order to be
sure that his father was not by any accident behind
him, and then climbing up first upon his knees, and
afterward upon his feet, he drew up the reins cautiously,
and then chirruped to the horse to go on. The
horse began to move slowly along. Jemmy was surprised
and delighted to find how firm his footing was on
the broad surface of the bags. Growing more and
more bold and confident as he became accustomed to
his situation, he began presently to dance about,
or rather to perform certain awkward antics, which
he considered dancing, looking round continually, with
a mingled expression of guilt, pleasure, and fear,
in his countenance, in order to be sure that his father
was not coming. Finally, he undertook to make
his horse trot a little. The horse, however, by
this time, began to grow somewhat impatient at the
unusual sensations which he experienced—­the
weight of the rider being concentrated upon one single
point, directly on his back, and resting very unsteadily
and interruptedly there,—­and the bridle-reins
passing up almost perpendicularly into the air, instead
of declining backwards, as they ought to do in any
proper position of the horseman. He began to trot
forward faster and faster. Jemmy soon found that
it would be prudent to restrain him, but in his upright
position, he had no control over the horse by pulling
the reins. He only pulled the horse’s head
upwards, and made him more uneasy and impatient than
before. He then attempted to get down into a
sitting posture again, but in doing so, he fell off
upon the hard road and sprained his ankle. The
horse trotted rapidly on, until the bags fell off,
first one and then the other. Finding himself
thus wholly at liberty, he stopped and began to eat
the grass at the road-side, wholly unconcerned at the
mischief that had been done.

Jemmy’s distress was owing much more to his
alarm and his sense of guilt, than to the actual pain
of the injury which he had suffered. He was,
however, entirely disabled by the sprain.

“It is rather a hard case,” said Beechnut,
“no doubt, but never mind it, Jemmy. A
man may break his leg, and yet live to dance many a
hornpipe afterwards. You’ll get over all
this and laugh about it one day. Come, I’ll
carry you home in my wagon.”

“But I am afraid to go home,” said Jemmy.

“What are you afraid of?” asked Beechnut.

“Of my father,” said Jemmy.

“Oh no,” said Beechnut. “The
horse is not hurt, and as for the grist I’ll
carry it to mill with mine. So there is no harm
done. Come, let me put you into the wagon.”